PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A Philadelphia-based nonprofit is expanding its effort to put healthier food in corner stores in the area.

Quick access to grub is good, but not when they’re empty calories.

“A lot of the kids, before and after school, they’re going to the corner store and purchasing things like sugary drinks, chips, and candy,” says Yael Lehmann.

So Lehmann, executive director of The Food Trust, says they’ve been working to get shop owners to sell things like whole fruit and healthier drinks.

“We’re showing them different things they can substitute. And also asking the kids themselves, ‘if you were going to try this vs. that, what would you like?’,” explains Lehmann.

They’re in more than 600 corner stores in the area. Lehmann says a $15,000 grant from Citizens Bank will help The Food Trust start a program to provide taste tests and cooking demonstrations at six stores designated “community hubs” in Hunting Park and Haddington in the city, and in Norristown.

“We love the idea of folks coming in, learning how to cook, learning how to shop within the store for healthy items,” Lehmann says.

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Ian Bush is an anchor, reporter, news editor, and technology editor at KYW Newsradio.
Bush joined the airstaff in August 2005 after serving as a desk/production assistant since October 2002. In 2008, he was named one of national radio’s '30 Under...